It's not fair

23/08/2010

There has already been an awful lot of controversy surrounding the runner Caster Semenya, who was recently passed as eligible for competition in female athletics after suspicions about her gender. She has marked her comeback with a string of victories, the latest an easy win in the 800m in Berlin, but plenty of her rivals are voicing anything like admiration for her performances.

According to the Guardian, one rival competitor said that she and the rest of the pack were ‘literally running against a man’, and although she wasn’t prepared to give her name to that quote, there were plenty of others who were publically critical of the effect Semenya is having on the competition.

‘As athletes we feel frustrated because everyone is allowed to give their opinion except us,’ said Canadian Diane Cummins. ‘If we give an honest opinion, we're either seen as bad sports or we're not happy because we're being beaten.

‘But that's not the case. Jemma and I have been beaten tons of times by athletes who we feel are doing it in the realm of what is considered female. Unfortunately for Caster, she's grown up in an environment that is complicated not just for her but for human science. Basically, is she man, is she lady? What constitutes male, what constitutes female?

‘Even if she is a female, she's on the very fringe of the normal athlete female biological composition from what I understand of hormone testing. So, from that perspective, most of us just feel that we are literally running against a man.

‘It is certainly frustrating to be running against someone who seems to be doing it effortlessly. We all believe that Caster Semenya, pushed to her full potential, could break the world record. That's 1.53, and that's what college guys are running. From that perspective, she's far superior to any female 800m runner we've ever had.’